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I have been sitting the Turtle on the pot since we got to the U.S., when he was about 10 months old. Just at obvious times, after meals and naps and whatnot. And if I saw a poo face. He has the best poo face. You could spot it from a mile away. I had a vague hope there for a while that he would be “trained” by Christmas (last Christmas). But Christmas came and went and he didn’t seem any closer to being trained. He did seem to know that he was peeing, where it came from and that it was wet. Not bad for a part time trainee. And when his “trainer” lost heart and set the whole training thing on the back burner a little (dejected), it didn’t seem to phase him. He still went when I took him and told me after he had pooped and/or peed on the floor (cream carpets in a rented house, anyone?) If you asked him where pee went he would say “Pee in the potty”.

We took a couple of months off while we moved here. Dragging a potty across the country didn’t seem feasible. You can’t ignore them when they ask to use the potty. And if they ask when you’re on the interstate? Well, “hold it” doesn’t really cut it for someone who is under 2 (or even 32). So we decided not to bother. We even ditched our g-diapers because we weren’t sure we’d be able to access a washing machine.

Now that we’ve been here for a couple of weeks, I thought it was time to break out the potties again. And the fact that Monday was sunny and warm? Even more of a bonus. I’m sick of big, sticky, smelly poos blighting my days. Cries of “My God, what have you been eating?” have been punctuating the day. That and “LIE DOWN!”; “Aaargghhhhhh! Now there’s poo on the WXYZ.”

So, it’s potty time in the Turtle household.

Monday, he pooped on the potty twice. Peed once. And asked for the potty two of those times. Numerous pees were made on the floor and outside. But outside doesn’t count, because Mammy didn’t have to clean it! 😉

Tuesday, he asked for the potty first thing in the morning – I thought he was pulling my leg, but lo and behold, he was not. He asked again after breakfast. Success! Then Mammy got complacent and there were a couple of accidents. The nappy went back on for his nap. After lunch, the nappy was off again and I unearthed some Spiderman knickers. The key to my success. Spiderman knickers. Brilliant. “Don’t pee on Spiderman” became a bit of a refrain. And he would take himself off to the potty. Spiderman doesn’t like getting wet, him being a spider and all.

Wednesday, the same Spiderman knickers went on again. The same ones. They lasted until naptime, when they were taken off. We went to the zoo this afternoon, so no mention was made of the potty, but when we got home he went straight to it. Then after his bath, when he was already in his nappy and PJs, watching Thomas (Thomas, the Holy Grail of telly in our house, never to be interrupted for anything) he hopped up and said “Poo! Potty time! Pottyyyyyy!” And off he ran.

And he did it!

Hurrah!

I think we’ve cracked it. We may have taken that last step, the one from “I’m making a poo” to “I need to make a poo.”